Antemortem Conversion of Codeine to Morphine in Man

In the routine screening of postmortem specimens in this laboratory, whenever codeine is detected, morphine is almost always found concurrently. Adler [1] and Mannering et al [2] demonstrated that, in man, codeine is demethylated to morphine, and that as much as 17.2% of codeine appears as bound and unbound morphine in urine.